Cain
Also known as the Dark Prince, Cain is a saran born of a Robia, the daughter of the Holy Ghost and Dashora, an heir of the Sarada Clan. He is considered far and away the strongest saran on Kazan, possessing unrivaled power and speed. He was taught how to fight by Kurai, who schooled him in the fighting methods handed down to him by Rahan. He is bonded to symbiotic armor called a Shroud, which was originally a creature which acted as the original Deathwalks in the Age of Heroes before Shiva obliterated its personality. Now bonded to Cain, it amplifies his power and grants him several near psychic abilities, such as hypnosis, telepathy, and remote viewing powers. As a Deathwalk, Cain’s most powerful asset is his mastery of the Dark Flame, which he has harnessed into the formidable Dark Force attack. He is regarded as a fighting genius, and is considered to be the Warrior-Born prophesized in saran religious texts. At the age of 11, he qualified to become one of the Holy Ghost’s elite Deathwalks, and immediately defeated Brevara, the oldest and most seasoned warrior in the Holy Order, to gain the rank of First. Cain generally tries to take the most direct route possible in solving any problem, which usually involves violence. Despite his admitted dislike of elaborate plans, he is not above using deception to achieve his goals. He maintains a crass, rude attitude towards everyone except Cara, and to a lesser degree the rest of his companions. It was noted with horror by many of the others during his time in the Holy Order, that he was even disrespectful to the Holy Ghost. One of Cain's character traits - which is pointed out by others who know him - is his tendency to allow his anger to cloud his judgment and cause him to act rashly. Cain is also rather perverted, and is prone to becoming distracted by attractive women, especially Cara. He is extremely proud and won’t ask for help in a battle. Cain despises the weak and takes particular joy in causing mass destruction. Cain’s lone wolf attitude has occasionally put his friends at risk, which is almost as infuriating to them as the fact that he simply doesn’t care. More than one person who's observed Cain in action has described his fighting style as "Pure Carnage." He uses Rahan's art, which was developed the style with the idea that a smaller and weaker person could kill a more powerful opponent, and the techniques are meant to apply the most power to the weakest areas of an enemy and kill them in as few blows as possible. The art's power lies into channeling one's energy in a single blow and striking into the Hidden Channeling Points through which Aura is emitted from the body. This causes the victim to explode, be controlled involuntarily or otherwise incapacitated. According to Cain, one of the key features of the style is that each blow injects an "Aura Bomb" into the body of the opponent which is meant to destroy them from the inside out. Cain is an Oversaran, but unlike John, he was genetically engineered to be such. 'Techniques' 'Dark Flames' The Deathwalks use a powerful fire based ability known as Dark Flame, which is the fusion of the Burning Flame of the sarans and the power of Darkness granted by their Shrouds. Because of this, the Deathwalks' Dark Flames are several times stronger than the usual Burning Flames. Like normal Burning Flames, the Dark Flames become stronger depending on the user's emotional state. Dark Fist: Melee attacks which engulf the hands and/or feet in flames to increase damage. Dark Strike: Cain’s trademark attack. The Dark Strike is a powerful shot of dark energy fired from the right hand. Cain had learned to take the energy of the Dark Bolt and localize it in his right arm to turn it into an attack he could use quickly and without taxing himself. It is generally used as a piercing technique which can impale opponents on a beam of Dark Flame. Dark Flash: A suicide technique that was previously regarded as the most powerful Dark Flame technique until the creation of the Dark Force, the Dark Flash is a massive and highly destructive explosion of dark energy. It can be used to completely level the area around its user. Originally a suicide technique by which the user detonates himself with all the dark energy he can summon, Cain and Rayze mastered the technique and could survive it thanks to the greater control afforded them by their Shrouds. Dark Breaker: '''A melee technique where Cain envelops his fists or some other part of his body in Dark Flames and pummels the opponent, shattering any defenses. '''Dark Illusion: This ability, perfected by Rayze, destroys the light in a given area and traps people within its field in total darkness. Dark Walk: An ability that allows Cain to move through shadows, sometimes allowing him to teleport great distances. 'Ultimate Attack' Dark Bomb: The Dark Bomb is among the most powerful Dark Flame attacks and the one Cain uses as an ultimate attack when in his normal form. It creates a ball of dark energy which can either be detonated at its user’s will or will explode on contact. Its explosion has a very large radius and is visible from space. Cain uses it as his secondary sure-kill attack to potent degree, forming it in his hand and then launching it at enemies. However, on at least one occasion he created one and left it to lure an opponent to it before he detonated it. Dark Force: The most powerful Dark Power attack. Created by Cain, this technique takes the power from the Dark Flash, focuses it, and releases it as a highly destructive beam of dark flame shot from both hands. In his first attempt at using it in his normal form the exertion almost killed him. However, once he mastered his Oversaran form he was able to safely use the technique. The Dark Force is strong enough to destroy a planet. 'Foot Techniques' Cutting: Cutting is technique common to many martial arts used by Aura users which permits movement so fast it’s likened to teleporting, wherein the technique user moves so fast everything looks like a statue to them. When Cutting, a fighter uses their Aura to "cut" themselves out of space/time and reinsert themselves somewhere else at the same instant, effectively making them in two place at once. The technique has different levels, with some users able to appear in multiple places at once. Cain had mastered the technique to the extent that when Cutting he could attack dozens of opponents at the same time. 'Trivia' ' '- Cain was born in the same facility on the same day at about the same time as John. Both were born with S-Class power, though Cain was expected to be thanks to the genetic engineering the Holy Ghost had subjected him to. - Cain has a similar personality to John, such that they are occasionally called opposite sides of the same coin. It was John's similarities to Cain that attracted Cara to him, and upon meeting June she and Cain got along very well with her saying she felt like they'd been friends forever. Thematically, Cain represents what John would have become had he been raised on Kazan as a normal saran, he therefore is much crueler and ruthless than John, who was raised by humans, could ever be. Where John kills very rarely, Cain is very casual with lethal force. He is used to killing opponents as a matter of course and has almost never left an opponent alive. - Unlike other sarans who have yellow eyes, Cain's eyes are red, a mutation inherited from his mother. On ancient Kazan babies born with red eyes were looked at as bad omens, and even in the modern age red eyed sarans are still feared. - Cain despised the whole Ghost more than any other being alive. The Ghost was content to raise Cain as a weapon, and never showed the boy any approval or affection. He showed interest only when Cain showed promise in his martial development, but went out of his way to deny Cain any comfort or reward. This caused Cain to develop an bitter hatred of his grandfather, which manifested in a desire to ultimately kill him. However, he was all too aware of how short he fell of the Ghost. Therefore, his resolution was too allow the Ghost to turn him into a weapon, and gain as much power as he could under him. His commitment to this plan was such that he became the universally feared Angel of Death for the Holy Order and hid the facts of Kurai's murder from his sworn brother, Rayze. Conversely Cain's legendary wrath was an aspect carefully crafted by the Holy Ghost, both as a source of power for the boy and as a way for the Ghost to more easily control him. - Cain has a long scar running down the middle of his chest from his first attempt to kill the Holy Ghost as a child. Cain managed to injure his grandfather, and in his rage the Holy Ghost attacked Cain with his full power. Quick care by Medic Slaves saved his life, but the scar never healed. - Though he is responsible for the wholesale slaughter of countless millions, Cain does not seem to carry around any regret for his actions. His rationale was "if I was sent, chances are there was a reason for it." Despite this, as a member of the Magnificent 7 he's been known to make himself scarce when they encounter those with a grudge against him. John notes that sarans in general don't seem to be very concerned with death, whether they're killing or being killed. Thuro points out that since he's a Deathwalk, the shroud's personality has likely colored some of Cain's making him even less concerned with the deaths he's been responsible for. - Cain is the Pair Bonded mate of Cara, and the two of them serve to balance eachother out. Cara serves to pacify Cain's rage while he serves to bolster her self confidence and encourage her. The two of them "get" eachother and are closer than any of the other Magnificent 7, and Cara often acts as Cain's ally when he goes off on his secret missions. While Cain has expressed deep affection (as much as he's able to express anyway) for his friends, he places Cara head and shoulders above everyone else. During the battle with Lilith, Adam warned John that when push came to shove, Cain would place his love for Cara beyond the need to protect the Universe. - Cain has a fear of reptiles and finds them disgusting. This generally translates to an intense dislike of intelligent reptillian races, and he will often try to kill them the instant he sees them. - Cain has a strong dislike of being touched and will reflexively attack anyone who attempts to do so. He manages to supress this when in the presence of people he considers his friends, but even they feel knocked back by his spirit before he manages to reign it in. The only one he permits to touch him at her leisure is Cara, and even she occasionally says she's afraid for her life when she embraces him. - Even among a hard drinking group like the Magnicent 7, Cain is noted for his ability to drink. He has never met his match in drinking, and even Bruno, his closest rival among the group, states that when he's feeling sloppy drunk, Cain merely looks relaxed. Cara also states the only way she's ever been able to tell if Cain was drunk was that he gets noticably louder. - Cain's voice is considered extremely powerful, as he knows several techniques for being able to direct his voice at one person while excluding others or make his voice sound like it is coming from another direction. Like all sarans Cain can roar like a lion, with his being so loud that it can damage solid rock or even disperse Aura attacks aimed at him. - Cain has several perverted tendencies and tends to get distracted by girls he finds attractive. Women who've attempted to use this in battle against him discover to their peril that rather than giving them an advantage, they are instead molested by Cain who finds their suggestiveness encouraging. - Even among sarans Cain is known for his stubborness. Even he recognizes this, which is why he goes out of his way to care about few things since he's only stubborn about things he cares about. - Another trait Cain is known for is his anger. When enraged Cain's Aura becomes notably colder and more terrifying and he becomes capable of unspeakable violence and cruelty. When enraged he will tear his opponent apart and not stop until either they are dead or he is. When in this state he is completely beyond reason, and only Cara can calm him down, though she admits that she has to be able to calm him down early as there are times when even she is too scared to go near him. While his wrath has proved to be an advantage in combat, giving him an edge even against stronger opponents and fueling his refusal to give up, he privately considers it a weakness and struggles to keep his temper under control.